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Project Overview

The concept of effective schools is broad and largely depends on the definition given by scholars and practitioners and on the measures being used to evaluate schools. In this study, we present a systematic review of the literature on effective schools to provide context for a comparison exercise between three different frameworks of effective schools in the state of Illinois: the 5Essentials, the Illinois Report Card, and the U.S. News Ranking of high-quality high schools. By focusing on three different frameworks, we highlight two different problematics concerning the current use of frameworks of effective schools (1) that results of the classification of effective schools varies depending on the framework being used; and (2) that many components across frameworks correspond to measures related to processes and inputs in addition to measuring outcomes. We summarize some of the problematics related to the measurement of effective schools and propose recommendations for educators and researchers to consider when studying issues related to effective schools.

Project Team

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Mariana Barragan Torres

Research Specialist, IWERC

Project Lead


marianab@uillinois.edu

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Shereen O. Beilstein

Research Specialist, IWERC


beilste2@uillinois.edu

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Olivia Palid

Visiting Research Associate – Pritzker Tech Talent Labs

Project Data Collection Support


opalid2@uillinois.edu